Nat Morcos, creative, entrepreneur, and co-founder of multidisciplinary luxury brand Goshá and SKOONI Arts Foundation & Residence, on her new business endeavour, the power of aesthetics, and how SKOONI is shaping the artistic landscape in the region and UAE.
What do the first 30 minutes of your day look like, your morning routine?
My daily morning routine is a very important part of my life, it’s more of a religious, sacred ritual and I often feel if one element of my routine is missing, the day is not going in the right direction. I am up at 6:30am. I start with a two-minute ice cold shower, five minutes of somatic movement and a self-lymphatic massage with an LED mask on my face. Then five minutes of grounding where I stand bare feet on the grass facing the sun in my garden, followed by a self-made “magic potion” of three salts of water with lemon juice. Then dog walking with my favourite music or podcast on and coffee after and then off to a morning 45-minute workout or class – usually Reformer Pilates or cycling followed by an hour of beach time. That’s my church.
What was the catalyst to launch SKOONI?
Since we launched our interdisciplinary creative studio/agency/collective Goshá Buro back in 2021, we often thought it would be great to create our own space too where we can host people, brands and talents we love, within a set-up we created. Together with my husband Michael Morcos, we have a passion for architecture and design and transforming spaces into something completely new and exciting. We are also very passionate about performing arts and always wanted to have our own “say” in supporting talent in the arts field, so SKOONI combines all of it under one roof.
Tell us more about the concept and the inspiration behind it, and how has it been received?
SKOONI is an arts foundation and residence with event spaces for showcase and intimate performances, as well as three independent residences for international artists to reside with us and showcase their talent as well as get inspired by the Middle East and bringing their vision and interpretation of our culture, traditions and mentality back to the parts of the world where they are based and practiced.
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SKOONI is part of a global artistic exchange and it’s absolutely a dream come true for me and Michael. We got tremendous love from the community and our partners from luxury fashion and lifestyle brands, and we are yet to tell and shape our story and mature in our vision of how SKOONI could be a valuable cultural institution with a global voice.
The place is very transportive. Where does it take you?
SKOONI was dreamed, envisioned, designed and built by myself and my husband, Michael. SKOONI is our vision of what Dubai contemporary architecture could be. We want our visitors to feel they are in Dubai… they are in the Middle East but it’s yet to get familiar for them as a look and feel. So, it’s Dubai as you get to fall in love. It’s its own universe.
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Who do you look up to when it comes to those aesthetics?
Art, poetry, cinema, theatre, and my dreams.
How has your love of travel influenced your creative process and overall brand aesthetic?
I am inspired by nature, human creativity, and expression in the form of art, architecture, design, cityscapes as well as history. I travel to stop my mind from the day-to-day routine and open my eyes for new.
How do you balance the creative and commercial sides of the business, and do you feel more drawn to one than the other?
As our business grows and expands, my husband started to play the role where he oversees business operations and I am mainly focusing on the creative process, vision for our businesses and strategy for growth and the direction we take.
You’ve always been able to think outside the box. Have you always been a creative soul in this way?
You have to train your eyes and brain to travel. I often need to put myself into a “pain” state, where I bring the most tragic parts of my life experience forward and face them over again to be in creative mode. When my soul cries, the most beautiful things are born. I read sad poems, watch sad movies and overall make myself “feel’’. Often creativity takes me two days of silence – not talking to anyone and not seeing anything. Silence and solitude bring beautiful ideas out to the world. In general, I can never describe my creative process. It just comes out of nowhere with “Hello, that’s the one you need”.
How do you consistently innovate as a business?
You have to progress, reinvent and stay relevant. It’s important to educate yourself and collect information from different industries and individuals to understand and spot trends to know what will be the next need and collective obsession. Constant innovation from minimal to drastic in every business is essential. The secret is to bring new talent into your team and let them bring a little revolution into how things worked before them.
This is The Creativity Issue – what do you associate with that term?
Creativity means innovation and change to me… Things and dreamers who are not stuck and have no fear and in constant search of what’s new, different and beautiful.
